Street moves

Ultimate fighting champ teaches law enforcers new moves

West Lake Worth — Officers usually have a few options when dealing with unruly suspects who would rather fight than go to jail.

They have a baton, pepper spray and Taser, sure. But when an officer gets knocked to the ground, he may not be able to reach for those lifelines down by his belt.

That's why the Criminal Justice Institute at Palm Beach Community College brought in Ultimate Fighting Championship legend and three-time champion Royce Gracie to teach a four-day, 40-hour course for training officers from across the county.

"About 75 percent of the time an officer gets involved in a fight, he is brought down to the ground," institute Director Patrick Kelly said. "As mixed martial arts grows we will see more of these cases, and if an officer gets involved, he could get hurt."

Gracie, who tailors this program around officers, focuses on ways the men in blue or green can protect themselves, subdue their attacker and keep their guns out of the bad guys' hands.

"The main thing they have to keep in mind is their weapon," said Gracie, a Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, native who has competed in jujitsu tournaments since age 8.

On the first day of training Tuesday, Gracie showed officers what to do when an opponent they are straddling tries to push them away.

In one swift motion, Gracie hopped up off his "suspect's" chest and swept his legs around the man's neck while pulling on his arm and shoving his bare feet into the man's face.

By applying enough pressure, Gracie told the officers he could break the man's elbow and get him to surrender.

The officers, already paired up from an earlier exercise, took to the mat at the institute's gym for some practice.

Lavigna hopped up on two feet, threw his body around and got into the right position after a little wriggling. Ditto for Ugalde when they switched positions.

On the other side of the gym, Palm Beach School District Police Officer Adam Golden practiced the same move with his partner.

"The ground's not a very good place to be if they know what they're doing," he said.

Golden, who joked about being able to take on football players and skilled wrestlers if there was ever any trouble, said this technique would be invaluable to any officer dealing with a suspect twice his or her size.

Although the day was only half over, the training officers felt they had a good handle on a few new tricks they could share with their fellow officers, something they may not have to do with the new crop of police recruits graduating after 2008.

Kelly said basic ground fighting techniques like these will soon be part of the curriculum.

Chrystian Tejedor can be reached at ctejedor@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6645.